Airship



Patented Aug. 19, i924.

' tlNl'lllli STATES SCHIFFBAU ZEPPELEN, GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANHTER l RICHSHAFEN, GERMANY.

AIRSI-IIP.

Application filed. June 28, 1920.

To all fai/Loin may concern:

lle it known that l, LUnwio DRR, a German citizen, residing' at Friedrichshafen, Germany, have invented certain new and useful lmjn'ovements in fiirships (for which l havx tiled an application in Germany s bril 8, i918, No. 310,728),"of which the following is a specification.

idly invention refers to air'ships and more especially to airships of the rigid type comprising a plurality of gas chambers and its particular object is a novel system of stiifening the outei| envelopes of the gas chambers, which will enable the transmission of the excess pressures prevailing` in said gas chambers to the various portions of the framework of the airship to be effected in suc-h a manner that said framework and, in particu lar, the stay wires: of the cross rings will be s-cured against overloading.

Now in one stilfening or staying arrangement of this kind at present in use the end surfaces of the single gas chambers are anchored to one another by means of ten` sion members extending within the interior thereof, the said members then being` continued along' from one chamber to the other until th-Vx ends of the rigid framework are reached. In another form of staying arrangement, the cylindrical outer faces of the gas chambers are braced relatively to the longitudinal members of the ships frame,

Now this last mentioned method of bracing, while requiring numerous points of attachmnt for the gas chambers will, notwithstanding, relieve the frame of the ship inadequately. If., on the other hand, the end faces of the single chambers were to be braced by means of tension members disposed within. said cells,l then there would be created the liability of the points of fixation beingl easily ripped or torn. Moreover a free supporting` tension rope carried along from point to point, on to which the single chambers are immovably suspended, wiil practically offer sustantially no protection in the event of the rope snapping at any point.

rThe special object of my present invention resides in producing a bracing arrangement between the gas chambers and the ships frame, in the case of which the end surfaces of the gras chambre are on the one hand secured against being ripped, while on the Serial No. 392,539.

'other hand, they are prevented from er;-

erting' any admissible big' strain on the centre points of the transverse tension members of the cross rings. fit the same time, the through-going tensile connection is ini tend d 'to be secured against overstrain, and each of the chambers of the cells located always between two ring supports shall be so stilfened as to be capable of offering an increased resistance per se. j

Thus the subject matter of this invention constitutes a rigid airship havingl separate chambers and through-carried tension members. which latter are braced by means of the tension wires of the cross rings. In order to render possibile the free and unhampered movement of the gas chambers in an axial direction, the end surfaces of said chambers are shiftably disposed relatively to the tension members by which are traversed. This shiftability will be suitably obtained by providing the end surfaces of the gas chambers at the places entering into consideration with a central. ban;- like reentrant sleeve. By these means the provision of any sort of sliding sleev\ joint liable to cause leakages and objectionable frictions may be successfully avoided. To facilitate the mounting, and the exchanging of single gras chambers, it will be found advantageous to divide the tension member into single sections extending' always from one point of anchorage to the next7 and which sections are adjustably connected by pin joints to said points of anchorage A structure embodying` my invention is shown diagrammatically by way o-f example in the accompanying drawing forming Apart of this specication. In the drawings- F ig. 1 is a longitudinal section of part of the frame of an air ship, and

Fig. 2 a view, partly in longitudinal section, of the point of anchoragei drawn on an enlarged scale.

The stay wires a of each cross ring` A. are enclosed in Ithe centre thereof by a two-part anchor plate B. The two plate discs, which are bolted or screwed together, support each a pin or pivot b pivotally connected to the forked end of each of the threaded bolts c. Each of these latter is embraced by a tight ening sleeve C secured by a lock nut c2, into the bottom of which sleeve is fastened the end d of the tension rope D. The end ci is provided with a collar, and firmly tied to they r lUU said end so as to be perfectly gas tight is the inner portion of a central bag like reentrant sleeve e of the bottom E of a gas chamber. As will be seen from the drawing, the bottom of the gas chamber is enabled to repose upon the tension wires a', secured by the tension rope D, without thereby oreating any liability of rupture or break.

I claim:

l. In a rigid airship incombination, a rigid tubular frame7 a plurality of gas cells surrounded by said frame, bracing wires between two gas cells meeting substantially in the centreline of said fra-nie, a tension member extending longitudinally through said frame and said cells and iixed to said bracing wires and short axially extending sleeves connected with the cell walls traversed by said tension member and loosely but closely fitting around said member.

2. In a rigid airship` in combination, a rigid tubular frame, a plurality of gas cells surrounded by said frame, bracing wires between two gas cells meeting substantially in the centre line of said frame, a tension inember extending longitudinally through said frame and said cells and fixed to said bracing wires and short reentrant sleeves con nected with the cell walls traversed by said tension member and loosely but closely fitting around said member.

3. In a rigid airship in combination, a rigid tubular iframe, a plurality oi gas cells surrounded by said frame, bracing wires between two gas cells meeting substantially in the centre line of said frame, a tension meniber extending longitudinally through the parallel walls of each cell and having its ends iixed to said wires and a short reentrant sleeve in each wall loosely but closely fill` ting around said tension member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LUDWIG DRR. 

